Bake Squad

The premise of Netflix's Bake Squad is that Christina Tosi, the founder of Milk Bar, has gathered together four bakers into a squad: Ashley is an alternative-type white single mom who is the queen of cakes, Christophe is a pastry chef from France, Gonzo is a chocolatier from Argentina, and Maya-Camille is a hard of hearing Black woman whose specialty is flavors. At the beginning of the episode, someone comes in and tells them about the person whose celebration they're planning. The bakers then have seven hours to make a dessert. At the end of that time, the person comes back and they and Christina taste and compliment all the desserts. The person then chooses one, and Christina takes a picture of the winner, the person, and the dessert with an instant camera. The winner high-fives the other three bakers, puts their picture on the bulletin board, and then gets to remake the dessert for the party. The episode ends with footage from the party.

I don't think the show is good, but I found it weirdly compelling. It's almost a parody of American decadence. It has terrible reality show lighting, Christina's intros are extremely cheesy, and the desserts are totally over the top.

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